Risk Assessment Questionnaire

Thank you for accepting our invitation to take this brief, 13-question risk assessment questionnaire!

This questionnaire, created by two personal-finance university professors (John E. Grable of Kansas State U. & Ruth H. Lytton of Virginia Tech) in 1999, has been heavily lauded all over the country as a valuable tool in helping financial advisors tailor the best approaches for their clients’ portfolios. (See the links at the bottom of this page for further resources and studies regarding this questionnaire!)

With the confidential information you’ll provide via this questionnaire, we’ll be aided greatly in our efforts to cater to your needs with utmost precision.

We’ll discuss this during our next appointment – looking forward to it!

Kevin Grady

Question1)

In general, how would your best friend describe you as a risk taker?

A real gamblerWilling to take risks after completing adequate researchCautiousA real risk avoider

Question2)

You are on a TV game show and can choose one of the following. Which would you take?

You have just finished saving for a "once-in-a-lifetime" vacation. Three weeks before you plan to leave, you lose your job. You would:

Cancel the vacationTake a much more modest vacationGo as scheduled, reasoning that you need the time to prepare for a job searchExtend your vacation, because this might be your last chance to go first-class

Question4)

If you unexpectedly received $20,000 to invest, what would you do?

Deposit it in a bank account, money market account, or an insured CDInvest it in safe high quality bonds or bond mutual fundsInvest it in stocks or stock mutual funds

Question5)

In terms of experience, how comfortable are you investing in stocks or stock mutual funds?

Not at all comfortableSomewhat comfortableVery comfortable

Question6)

When you think of the word "risk" which of the following words comes to mind first?

LossUncertaintyOpportunityThrill

Question7)

Some experts are predicting prices of assets such as gold, jewels, collectibles, and real estate (hard assets) to increase in value; bond prices may fall, however, experts tend to agree that government bonds are relatively safe. Most of your investment assets are now in high interest government bonds. What would you do?

Hold the bondsSell the bonds, put half the proceeds into money market accounts, and the other half into hard assetsSell the bonds and put the total proceeds into hard assetsSell the bonds, put all the money into hard assets, and borrow additional money to buy more

Question8)

Given the best and worst case returns of the four investment choices below, which would you prefer?

Your trusted friend and neighbor, an experienced geologist, is putting together a group of investors to fund an exploratory gold mining venture. The venture could pay back 50 to 100 times the investment if successful. If the mine is a bust, the entire investment is worthless. Your friend estimates the chances of success is only 20%. If you had the money, how much would you invest?"

NothingOne month's salaryThree month's salarySix month's salary

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Score & Risk Tolerance Assessment

40

Average Risk Rating

Questionnaire Scale (0-100)

Low Risk Tolerance

Below-Average Risk Tolerance

Average Risk Tolerance

Above-Average Risk Tolerance

High Risk Tolerance

Thanks again for completing this questionnaire!

I look forward to utilizing the results within to help serve you even better.

The Grable & Lytton Risk Assessment Questionnaire was created in 1999 by Dr. John Grable and Dr. Ruth Lytton. It has been in continuous use since then, has been taken by investors hundreds of thousands of times, and has been repeatedly studied for validity.